In safes in general, a hinge mechanism which allows a safe door to swing open after being unlocked provides a potential weak point for a potential attack on that safe. More particularly, in electronic drop safes used to store excess cash at businesses such as convenience stores, and the like, a hinge construction may be both more costly and less protective than desired.
For example, in one electronic drop safe construction 100, shown in the back cutaway view of FIG. 1A and in the front perspective view of FIG. 1B. Commercial hinges are used having flanges, 110 and 112. A flange 110 is welded to the side wall 120 and the flange 112 is welded to the door 130 of a safe 100. A first series of welds 132, 134, 136, 138 and 140 weld the flange 110 to the side wall 120. A second series of welds 142, 144, 146, 148 and 150 weld the flange 112 to the doors 130 and 150. External welds for door 160 are not seen in FIG. 1A.
As seen in FIG. 1B, an alternate series of external welds 152, 154 and 156 are also preferably employed between hinge knuckles 153, 155 and 157 of the door 130 to prevent attempts to forcibly attack the hinges by unrolling them using a pry bar, for example. External welds 171 and 173 are also employed between hinge knuckles 170 and 172, respectively, and side wall 120. Similar welds are seen for the knuckles of doors 150 and 160 in FIG. 1B. Alternatively, the commercial hinge can be mounted on the outside of the door and safe wall. In this case, not shown, the hinge flanges are welded on the outside of the safe further negatively impacting the aesthetics and increasing the overall volume of the safe without any advantage to the customer from the added volume. The hinge knuckles still need to be welded to secure them against attempts to unroll them.
The flange based hinge approach described above has an undesirable cosmetic appearance as a result of all the external welds as seen in FIG. 1B, as well as, having an increased manufacturing cost as a result of the extra cost resulting from welding the flanges 110 and 112 to the safe and the door, respectively.
FIG. 2 shows an alternative prior art electronic drop safe 200 with a much larger hinge arrangement in which a large hinge member 205 is welded to door 230 and swingingly mates with a similar large hinge member 215 welded to edge 240 of the front wall of the electronic safe 200. Additional hinge member pairs extend along the edge 240. While looking heavy and strong, the approach shown presents a point of attack for those intent upon trying to rob safes such as the electronic safe 200. Further details are not provided in the interest of not educating the unscrupulous.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,470 addresses integrating a hinge directly into the door and side wall of a plastic safe so as to make it substantially more difficult to forcibly break the hinges and gain access into a safe. However, the approach disclosed relies on a single hinge column with a bore hole extending its entire length, as well as, the use of two spring-loaded pivoting rods that only engage a short way into the top and bottom of the hinge. The hinge pins are only retained at the very top and very bottom of the safe housing which potentially allows a burglar to generate substantial force at the top and bottom of the safe by prying the door at the center. Further, it is unclear how the door may be removed once the spring loaded pins are inserted into the hinge door without destroying the door or the safe body. A similar pin arrangement is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,104 using a sheet metal door with cobalt alloy bar stock pins and a compression sleeve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,515 addresses rolling a hinge directly into the door of a safe and hiding the hinge completely from view. The hinge is formed completely from the door. Knuckles extending the full length of the door are affixed to a small flange welded to an interior sidewall of the safe. This arrangement uses a portion of the internal volume of the safe housing to keep the hinge hidden from view disadvantageously leaving less room to store valuables or other security related hardware inside the safe. The disclosed approach also welds the fixed leaf of the hinge to the front surface of the safe in a manner in which the welds would be cosmetically visible.